Major Projects

"It seems that Lu Jun has a very good relationship with the French army."

Sato Yosho was surprised to see that Lu Chen only needed to show his face to enter the French Concession, and that they were allowed in without even the most basic checks.

It should be noted that the Japanese army had repeatedly tried to enter the French Concession to arrest anti-Japanese elements but had failed. They could only send in a small number of people, and they would be discovered if they were not careful.

"You just get used to it after going in and out a lot."

Lu Chen didn't explain much, since it was difficult to explain anyway.

Sato Yosho didn't say anything more for the rest of the journey, while Lu Chen continued to guide Kobayashi Shuichi, who was driving.

They quickly arrived at the house. Before Lu Chen could knock, Sato Yosho and his two men pulled out guns and kicked the door open.

Boom! !

With a thud, the door was kicked open roughly. Finding no one on the first floor, the group rushed up to the second floor, but still found no one there.

"Mr. Lu, where are the anti-Japanese elements you mentioned? There's nothing here at all!"

Sato searched the house thoroughly and found no one, but there were obvious signs of habitation.

A detailed map of Shanghai was laid out on the table, with cigarette ash scattered irregularly on the floor.

"They may have received advance warning and moved. Judging from the items left behind here, it should be possible to confirm that they were anti-Japanese elements."

Kiyoko Matsumoto walked to the table and looked at the map, which clearly marked the Japanese army's troop deployment in Shanghai. This alone was enough to confirm the situation.

"You knew in advance? Lu Jun just told us they were leaving the next second?"

Sato Yosho looked at Lu Chen, then at the other two, and continued speaking.

"Logically, only Colonel Kuroda, Lu Jun, and I should know this news. How did they find out in advance?"

Kiyoko Matsumoto and Hideko Kobayashi looked at each other in bewilderment. Before they arrived, neither of them knew what the mission was. It was only when they were almost there that Yosho Sato told them.

It was obviously not them who tipped them off. As for Sato Yosho, no one suspected him, and Kuroda couldn't possibly be either.

Then there's only one option...

All three looked at Lu Chen, who was the only Chinese person there, and it was he who had told them this news.

"Why are you all looking at me? Maybe they've just moved? If it really is me, why would I come with you? Wouldn't that be walking into a trap?"

Lu Chen didn't react too strongly. Instead, he frowned and spoke calmly, his palms sweating unknowingly. It was impossible for him not to be nervous.

None of the three spoke, and no one answered Lu Chen's words. The four of them stood silently in the empty room.

"They probably received advance warning and evacuated. Let's go back."

In the end, it was Sato Yosho who spoke up and dropped the matter.

Lu Chen visibly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to Sato Yosho's suggestion without hesitation. The four of them then walked out the door and got into the car.

When they passed the military police station, Lu Chen said he had something to do, so he asked Sato Yosho to leave him there, and the three of them continued driving towards the Japanese concession.

"Brother Chen, you're finally back. If you had been any later, I would have gone to find the Japanese devils."

Seeing Lu Chen return, Liu Jie finally felt relieved. Lu Chen hadn't returned for so long, and he had thought something had happened to him.

"Why are you going to find those Japanese devils?"

Lu Chen took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked at Liu Jie with a puzzled expression.

"Everyone knows what kind of people the Japanese are. If something happens, I can come and rescue you."

Liu Jie curled his lip. Not only him, but every Chinese person knows the Japanese devils' character. If you don't like them, they'll lose their heads.

Lu Chen smiled. He didn't expect Liu Jie to say such a thing. Wasn't he afraid?

"Have you found any workers?"

Seeing that it was almost noon, Lu Chen asked Liu Jie if he had finished the task Liu Jie had given him yesterday.

"We've found the people. One silver dollar for each person pushing the cart, and two silver dollars for each person carrying grain and pushing the cart."

As he spoke, Liu Jie took out the remaining twenty-five silver dollars and handed them to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen looked at Liu Jie but didn't take it. "This is more as a reward for following me around these past few days."

"No, Brother Chen, you've already helped me so much, I can't accept this money."

No matter what Lu Chen said, Liu Jie refused to accept it, so Lu Chen had no choice but to accept it.

"Brother Chen, how much will we pay per pound for the grain?"

Liu Jie looked at Lu Chen with a somewhat expectant expression.

In the Chinese-speaking areas, he saw many homeless people, people who didn't have enough to eat, and quite a few who even starved to death.

He wanted to help, but his own family was struggling financially, so he was powerless to do so.

He secretly hoped that Lu Chen would set the price lower so that not only his family could buy it, but also ordinary people who couldn't afford to eat.

"Just sell at the pre-war price, make a little less profit, since they're all Chinese, noodles are 1.2 dollars and rice is 2 dollars."

Lu Chen had already thought about this problem, but if they sold it this way, the grain would definitely be in short supply.

The rats are great everywhere, except they're not clean. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to worry about food.

Lu Chen then went into his office and asked Liu Jie to go to the French Concession with him after dark.

Entering the office and locking the door, Lu Chen took out a bugging device, from which the voices of Kuroda and Sato Yosho could be heard.

"Colonel, we went there, but the man has already escaped, leaving only a map behind."

"They ran away?"

"Yes, they probably received advance notice, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to leave so quickly."

"So, do you think Lu Chen was behind all of this?"

"Probably not, because he was with us the whole time and had no chance to pass messages, so we can trust him."

Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief; he realized that this step he had taken was truly risky.

Because he still can't fully understand Kuroda's personality, if Kuroda would rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free, then the probability of his own death is extremely high.

"Fortunately, I've gained the trust of Kuroda and Sato Yosho. The next step should be infiltrating the Special Higher Police."

Lu Chen spoke to himself, looking at the rat on the table, lost in thought.

Using morphine to exchange for food is not a long-term solution. We need to find a way to get food. Buying it is out of the question, so we can only rely on the rats.

"disinfect."

Lu Chen muttered to himself, "I need to find a way to disinfect, and it has to be done throughout the entire process."

In that case, Lu Chen could only think of one solution: to lay disinfectant throughout the entire sewer system.

This way, the rats can disinfect themselves as they walk by, and they can also disinfect themselves as they return after getting the food.

"That's a huge project."

Just thinking about it gave Lu Chen a headache. This project was enormous, involving the entire sewer system, not only in the Chinese-controlled area but also in the French Concession.

"Rat One, go and select ten of the smartest mice, and bring them to see me when you get home tonight."

"Squeak squeak".

Lu Chen still planned to train a group of rats first, and then hand them over to them to do the work, so that he could save himself the trouble.

The rat's intelligence is equivalent to that of an eight-year-old child. It's likely that under Lu Chen's constant training, the rat has become noticeably smarter.